To accommodate the change in fashion and style and to provide a less drastic masking of the first grey hair than a full head dyeing event, more and more consumers have the desire to highlight their hair.
Although under the term highlighting it is understood to be the selection of hair strands which are lightened at least one shade lighter that the rest of the hair, the results expected by consumers are quite various. To achieve personal customization of the end-look the consumer can choose to perform highlighting by employing home highlighting kits or may visit a professional stylist.
Professionals have a number of devices and techniques at their disposal which together with training and years of experience allow the variety of results expected by the consumers to be delivered. However, due to the accuracy and length of the process, the consumer is required to regularly spend a number of hours at the salon in order to complete the process. Because of the long time and effort employed by the professionals to achieve the expected end results, a high premium is also demanded by the professional stylists for their services.
The home highlighting product market is vast, financially accessible to consumers and offers various products to deliver practically any desired lift of the hair.
However, a number of drawbacks are associated with using home hair highlighting treatments without assistance of a professional. The application of highlighting compositions at the back of the head is difficult to achieve; the selection of the strands requires the user to maintain the arms over the head creating discomfort and tiredness affecting the overall results. Indeed even when the highlighting compositions are applied through an applicator, the use of such an applicator may require considerable practice, patience and experience in order to achieve at least a satisfactory result. These drawbacks are further amplified by the unpleasant nature of highlighting compositions, which can cause bleaching if dripped onto the consumer's home surfaces, skin and clothes.
Some attempts to solve these problems have been contemplated in the art. WO 93/10687 has proposed a highlighting preparation comprising a highlighting agent held by a lining material mounted on a pliable substrate such as an aluminium foil. Once the highlighting agent is activated by addition of hydrogen peroxide, the pliable substrate is folded over a hair strand and the highlighting composition is delivered. US 2003/0024544 discloses a device for applying a dye product to sections of hair, said device comprising a cavity, which can be provided of a fibrous or porous material, and a retention member. The retention member and the cavity are connected but movable relative to each other so that the retention member fits inside the cavity. The hair strand is trapped between the cavity and the retention member to apply the hair treatment composition. JP 200234636 teaches hair-dyeing tongs comprising a head part and a handle part. The head part is composed of two opposite plates to clamp the hair strand. The plates have teeth for dividing and arranging the hair, orifices where the hair treatment composition comes out and sponges, whilst the handle part has a storing compartment for the dyeing composition. Channels run inside the tong from the storing compartment to the plates. JP 2003310337 discloses a hair dyeing utensil comprising a tweezer-shaped tool having at the top end absorbent pads which are in fluid communication with small containers mounted on the arms of tweezers-like tool. When pressure is applied on the side of the tweezers over the small containers, the hair dyeing composition is released and absorbed by the pads at the top ends. GB 2242357 discloses a device comprising two hinged plates covered by an absorbent material impregnated with the hair treatment composition and a closing means. Once a tuft of hair is selected, the plates are closed by the closing means over the hair and left in place. This application device works as a replacement for foils, which are used by stylists in professional salons. JP 2003199623 discloses a sheet brush which can be folded over the hair strands to apply hair treatment composition onto hair strands. The sheet brush is provided with teeth protruding out from the base of the sheet, which can be covered by non-woven fabric. EP 1433399 discloses a device comprising an applicator portion and a fastening mean. The applicator portion comprises a compressible container where the hair treatment composition is lodged. The user positions a hair strand between one finger and the container. Upon application of pressure on the compressible container, the composition contained therein is released on the hair strand. JP 1999178639 discloses a hair cosmetic applicator characterized by two hinged plates, each of these plates has a fitting means on the external surface and a bag comprising a hair treatment composition attached on the internal surface. Each bag contains a hole from which the composition is released through metering layers by opening and closing the hinged plates.
What still remains unsolved by the art is the provision of a hair treatment application tool to satisfy the home highlighting consumers' needs in terms of avoiding the dripping of the highlight composition from the application tool, applying the highlighting composition homogenously over the entire length of the hair strands and easiness to use with one hand, to pick up, grip, hold and lay down. Moreover, the application tool should be easy to guide particularly at the root line and to perform several applications irrespective of the hair length. The application tool must also provide flexibility for creating a high variety of highlights, for inventing new fashions, for shortening the time and costs and for simplifying the highlight performances. Finally, the application tool must be doubtless light, cheap, disposable or recyclable and easy to produce.
It has now been found that an application tool (as defined herein after) can significantly improve the highlighting results at home as well as at professional salons.